Conference Sessions
The conference at mmc2025 will consist of six parallel streams comprising 36 conference and EMAG sessions.
AFM & Scanning Probe Microscopies Sessions:
AFM & SPM for Biosciences
Session Chairs: Ionna Mela (University of Cambridge, UK) & George Heath (University of Leeds, UK)
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) offers powerful, label-free visualization and mechanical characterisation of biomolecules and cellular structures under native conditions. The AFM for Biosciences sessions will explore the latest advancements in AFM applications within biological and medical research, ranging from single cell down to sub-molecular scales to uncover new structural, mechanical and dynamic insights. Additionally, we will cover correlative and computational methods that enhance interpretation and data analysis to uncover the complexities of biological systems.
Keywords: Imaging, Mechanics, Biomolecules, Cells, Data Analysis.
Audience: Life, physical and multidisciplinary sciences, data analysts
Invited Speakers
AFM & SPM in Materials Science
Session Chair: Sohini Kar-Narayan (University of Cambridge, UK)
Advances in scanning probe microscopy have continued to provide insights into nanoscale properties of a wide class of functional materials, such as polymers, oxides and 2D materials for applications in energy, neuromorphic computing, optoelectronics and sensing, to name a few. This session is dedicated to the latest developments in AFM & SPM techniques for advanced nanoscale imaging and characterisation of novel and emerging materials.
Invited Speakers
Giuliana Di Martino
Scanning Probe Microscopy of Single-molecule Assembly, Dynamics, and Reactions on Surfaces
Session Chair: Kristina Rusimova (University of Bath, UK)
Scanning probe techniques (SPM) allow us to study molecules all the way down to the single chemical bond limit, as well as in direct interaction with other molecules in an ensemble. This session will explore the state-of-the-art in the field of molecular reaction dynamics on surfaces and explore the overlap with newer variations on SPM, including in combination with optical techniques.
Invited Speakers
Alex Saywell
Martin Svec
Frontiers in Bioimaging Sessions:
Live Imaging Across Scales: From Single Cells to Whole Organisms in Development and Disease
Session Chair: Periklis (Laki) Pantazis (Imperial College London, UK)
This session highlights cutting-edge optical imaging approaches that span multiple biological scales - from single cells and organoids to intact organs and model organisms. We will explore how advanced imaging techniques reveal dynamic processes in development, tissue organisation and disease progression, with particular emphasis on cancer evolution. Presentations will showcase innovations in light microscopy that enable long-term visualisation of living systems while maintaining high spatiotemporal resolution. The session aims to foster discussion on complementary imaging strategies that bridge the gap between cellular mechanisms and organismal phenotypes.
Keywords: Live optical imaging, organoids, developmental biology, cancer imaging, intravital microscopy, light-sheet microscopy, model organisms, tissue dynamics
Audience: Developmental biologists, cancer researchers, microscopy specialists, cell biologists, and biomedical scientists interested in dynamic imaging of living systems
Invited Speakers
Richard White
Advances in Cell and Organelle Tracking: Algorithms and Applications
Session Chair: Jean-Yves Tinevez (Institut Pasteur, France)
Life is all about dynamics and therefore tracking of biological components over time is a key topic in biology. From motors travelling on microtubules, to single cancer cells migrating, and cells flowing to build organs, the data generated with modern live cell microscopy can reveal unique information on the dynamics of Life. The goals and applications of these studies are very varied, but for them tracking is indispensable.
This session will focus on new approaches and applications of tracking for Life Sciences. It will feature invited and short talks covering both new algorithms for tracking, and innovative applications of tracking. Speakers will present cutting-edge methodologies that enhance the accuracy and efficiency of tracking biological entities, as well as novel applications that shed light on fundamental biological processes. Topics may include advancements in machine learning for tracking, analysis tools suitable for large data, and the integration of tracking data with other biological datasets.
Pushing Boundaries in Multiphoton Microscopy: Deeper, Faster, Smarter
Session Chair: Caroline Mullenbroich (University of Glasgow, UK)
Advances in multiphoton microscopy are continually enhancing imaging performance and versatility. This session highlights cutting-edge techniques that enhance the imaging performance in challenging bioimaging applications with new and creative approaches. Examples include techniques to improve the depth penetration in scattering media, increasing speed or enhancing sensitivity and many more. Here we explore innovative solutions driving the future of nonlinear optical microscopy and their impact on biological and biomedical research.
Keywords: Nonlinear optics, multiphoton microscopy, instrumentation, microscope design,
Audience: Researchers in life and physical sciences, multiphoton microscopy experts, imaging instrumentation specialists, and data scientists in bioimaging and microscopy
Invited Speakers
Chris Xu
Intravital and (Live) Tissue Imaging
Session Chair: Leo Carlin (CRUK Scotland Institute /University of Glasgow, UK)
To generate better understanding of the mechanisms regulating cellular behaviour we must address cells in their endogenous microenvironment. This session will focus on microscopy approaches to reveal and measure the spatiotemporal dynamics, interactions, and activity of cells in (live) tissue and intact organisms.
Invited Speakers
Leo Carlin
Katrin Heinze
Life/Physical Science Sessions:
Imaging and measurement techniques for virology
Session Chairs: Stephen Carter (University of Glasgow, UK) & Lauren Orr (University of Glasgow, UK)
Electrons offer several advantages over light for imaging different scales, from cellular to atomic. Fluorescence microscopy reveals a subset of labelled proteins, whereas cryo-ET can reveal labelled proteins at least an order of magnitude higher resolution than super-resolution optical techniques. Advances in correlated cryogenic-super-resolution microscopy combined with cryo-ET now enables any fluorescence image to be complemented with a high-resolution cryo-tomogram of the same specimen. This session will showcase the latest developments in minimally disruptive, bright fluorescently-tagged proteins that hold great promise for cryo-fluorescence imaging. We will explore emerging studies that combine these labelling innovations with correlated cryogenic light and electron tomography to offer unprecedented insight into viral lifecycles and virus-cell interactions. We welcome contributions from researchers working across broader developments and applications in imaging virology-related biological phenomena across all scales.
Keywords: Tracking, fluorescent protein labelling, super-resolution microscopy, viral replication, virus-host interactions
This session is kindly sponsored by Microbiology
Imaging Host-Pathogen Interactions
Session Chairs: Liam Rooney (University of Strathclyde, UK) & Rebecca McHugh (University of Glasgow, UK)
The latest advancements in microscopy and cytometry are transforming our understanding of host-pathogen interactions. This session focuses on how microbes establish and maintain infections while evading host defences and antimicrobial interventions. It will showcase innovative measurement techniques that reveal the dynamic interplay between pathogens and their host. New understandings of infection dynamics rely on the latest advancements spanning the disciplines of optical, scanning probe and electron microscopy, and see the adoption of advanced sample preparation techniques, such as optical clearing and 3D infection models, and the use of quantitative image analysis methods. This session aims to address both the microbial and immunological aspects of infection biology, using interdisciplinary approaches to understand the complexities of host-pathogen interactions across spatiotemporal scales.
Keywords: infection biology, inflammation, volumetric imaging, tissue models, infection/invasion models
Audience: Life, physical and multidisciplinary sciences. Optical, electron and scanning probe microscopists and data analysts
Invited Speakers
Lara Hundsdorfer
This session is kindly sponsored by Microbiology
FIB Applications and EM Sample Prep Techniques in Physical Sciences
Session Chair: Xiangli Zhong (University of Manchester, UK)
Focused Ion Beam microscopy has become one of the main techniques in the physical sciences and multidisciplinary sciences in recent years thanks to the rapid development of innovative tools for sample preparation, 3D imaging and analytical spectroscopy, it has significantly enhanced our understanding from the macroscopic to the sub-nanometer level covering a range of systems from metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, and biomaterials. This session discusses recent advances in characterisation and sample preparation techniques not limited to ion or electrons beams, but also conventional methods in physical and multidisciplinary sciences, ranging from (not limited to) polishing, etching/coating to imaging techniques, for all type of microscopes, examples of the related techniques are serial-section EM/FIB, TEM/STEM imaging, in-situ EM, Electron and FIB imaging, micro CT, and tomography etc.
Keywords: Focused Ion Beam, Sample preparation, 3D imaging, Electron Microscopy, Materials, Imaging
Audience: Material, physical, and multidisciplinary sciences
Invited Speakers
Yu-Lung Chiu
Geoff West
FIB Applications and EM Sample Prep Techniques in Biological Sciences
Session Chair: Michael Grange (Rosalind Franklin Institute, UK)
The use of focused ion beams (FIB) has become central in the life sciences in recent years thanks to the rapid development of innovative hardware and method developments enabling complex sample shaping, etching, welding, 3D imaging and analytical spectroscopy approaches. It has significantly improved our ability to understand intracellular complexity, with applications to volume electron microscopy and structural biology covering a range of systems from biological materials, including tissues and cells.
This session discusses recent advances in characterisation and sample preparation techniques where the use of FIB is central to understanding biology. The session is not limited to ion or electrons beams, but will also discuss methods central to FIB applications, including sample preparation (fixation/vitrification), (cryo-)ultramicrotomy, serial-section EM/FIB, Electron Tomography, SBEM imaging, micro-CT, and array tomography.
This session aims to discuss frontier of FIB developments in biology, at room temperature and at cryo, from applications to hardware.
Keywords: Focused Ion Beam, Sample preparation, Tomography, Electron Microscopy, Biological sciences, Tissues and cells
Audience: Biological and multidisciplinary sciences
Invited Speakers
Lucy Collinson
Philipp Erdmann
Bioimaging in Industry
Session Chair: Richard Kasprowicz (GSK plc, UK)
The use of imaging is pervasive within drug discovery, from high content screens for profiling tens-of-thousands of perturbagens in early discovery to the use of clinical imaging techniques to support monitoring and safety decisions post candidate selection. The vast information content that can be extracted from images, paired with low cost of data generation, is today bolstered by inferences that can be made from integration with ever-more sophisticated AI/ML analytics; such factors have driven the increasing adoption of imaging to provide decision-making data making at key discovery milestones. This session focusses on innovative approaches adopted in bioimaging in industry, highlighting how data from imaging technologies drives medicine development. The session will also highlight areas where industry and academia can collaborate for adoption of novel and innovative imaging solutions.
Keywords: High content imaging, Screening, Drug Discovery, Clinical Imaging
Audience: Pharmaceutical Industry, Contract Research, Academic, Life Scientists, Data Scientists.
Invited Speakers
Andy Nicholls
Aditi Pradhan
Microscopy of Materials across Industry
Session Chair: Andy Brown (University of Leeds, UK)
This session will cover the use, application and development of all types of microscopy for industrial applications from quality control, failure analysis and metrology through to research and development to support product innovation.
Invited Speakers
Eleanor Merson
Mark S'ari
Energy Materials: Microscopy and Analytical Advances
Session Chair: Sean Collins (University of Leeds, UK)
The energy transition requires significant advances in nano- to atomic-scale structure-function principles for accelerated development of batteries and photovoltaics to electrolysers and fuel cells and many other energy conversion and storage approaches. These technologies depend on the integration of multiple materials components, and microscopic analysis is therefore central to boosting the efficiencies of existing materials and leading on materials discovery. Across these diverse materials, efficiency gains depend on quantitative, microscopic investigation of charge carrier transport physics as well as of the materials chemistry determined by variations in atomic structure, composition, and electronic structure throughout the materials microstructure and across interfaces. A common set of microscopy challenges draws these diverse materials together, notably the combined analysis of inorganic and organic fractions and high and low atomic number constituents. This session focuses on advances in all areas of microscopy (visible light, X-ray, scanning probe, ion microscopy, SEM, and TEM) for materials for energy applications, including inorganic, hybrid, and organic semiconductors, cathode/anode and binder materials, membranes and electrolytes, and related materials.
High Dimensional Bioimaging: Applications and Analysis
Session Chair: Philip Hobson (The Francis Crick Institute, UK) and Morag Rose Hunter (AstraZeneca, UK)
Image sets allow us to extract rich “high dimensional” datasets, with a large number of features. This has become increasingly accessible with recent developments of hardware and image analysis software. The complexity of the data has lead to an explosion of machine learning- and artificial intelligence-based analysis approaches. We can now identify and differentiate complex, rare, and heterogeneous phenotypes with spatial resolution. This is useful for investigating basic biology, early to late drug discovery, and clinical applications.
Opportunities in SIMS Imaging
Session Chair: David Scurr (University of Nottingham, UK)
Advances in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) have yielded significant improvements in spatial resolving power, molecular specificity and complexity of their associated imaging data-sets. These hyperspectral mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) data-sets are enabling new insights into a multidisciplinary range of academic and applied research areas from developing energy materials to novel understandings in cancer tumour heterogeneity. The increased complexity of these data-sets has been accompanied by the development of novel approaches to fully exploit the information content and the introduction of correlative workflows with other imaging techniques.
Invited Speakers
John Fletcher
Cryo and In situ Imaging Techniques at the Chemistry-Biology Interface
Session Chair: Sergio Bertazzo (University College London, UK)
Contemporary advances in microscopy and computational methods have greatly enhanced our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of living organisms. Today, it is possible to obtain the 3D structure of proteins and to see how they interact with specific chemical compounds. However, visualising interactions between compounds in vivo remain one of the key research challenges in life sciences. This session will discuss new imaging methods and techniques that are helping us to better understand in vivo systems by freezing compounds in place (cryo methods) or by directly imaging biological systems.
Keywords: Cryo microscopy, in-situ microscopy, Biology, Medicine, Chemistry, Material Sciences, Imaging.
Audience: Researchers in physics, chemistry, material sciences and life sciences, cryo and in-situ microscopists.
Invited Speakers
James Douglas
Fabio Nudelman
Cryo-EM in the Life Sciences
Session Chair: Chris Parmenter (University of Nottingham, UK)
Electron Microscopy (EM) conducted at cryogenic temperatures has been a feature of life sciences research for over forty years. Both scanning and transmission electron microscopes play a part in understanding structures of life science samples, albeit on different scales. Due to the high-water content in most biological samples, preparation for cryo-EM is key to correct freezing to preserve native structures. This session will explore the many uses of cryo-EM in life-sciences and preparation techniques enabling it.
Keywords: Cryo-SEM, Cryo-TEM, Sample preparation. Cryo-FIB, Soft-matter
Audience: Life-sciences, Soft-matter, Biological / Biomedical Sciences
Invited Speakers
Michael Grange
Micro CT and Volume EM
Session Chair: Ruslan Hlushchuk (Universität Bern, Switzerland)
Quantitative Analysis and Modelling
Session Chair: Kurt Anderson (The Francis Crick Institute, UK)
Image data can be used to inform a wide variety of quantitative models. Models can be used to inform the image acquisition process itself or to study physical and biological samples across multiple scales. The development and testing of models necessarily relies on the use of advanced image analysis methods to derive quantitative data from micrographs. This session will explore the interplay between imaging and the development of associated quantitative models.
Invited Speakers
Laura Clark
EBSD Applications to Novel Materials and Minerals
Session Chair: John Wheeler (University of Liverpool, UK)
EBSD is a fundamental tool for describing microstructures in crystalline materials, to understand better the processes that form them and how properties such as cost and reliability may be improved. It has often been applied to alloys of relatively restricted crystal symmetry (cubic and hexagonal) but in recent years has been extended to a greater variety of materials such as perovskites, high entropy alloys, shape memory alloys, light emitting diodes etc. some of which have lower symmetries (tetragonal, orthorhombic). In parallel, geologists have been investigating a wide range of minerals with different symmetries. In this session we invite contributions that illustrate the uses of EBSD on novel manufactured crystalline materials and on minerals, seeking emerging themes and challenges.
Keywords: EBSD, Alloy, Mineral, Crystalline material
Audience: metallurgists, ceramicists, geologists
Invited Speakers
Paola Bassani
Sandra Piazolo
EBSD Technique: Advances in Data Collection and Processing
Session Chair: Nathalie Gey (CNRS - Université de Lorraine, France)
Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) based technique that gives the local crystal orientation in a sample. The progress made over the years has significantly improved the quality in the orientation determination while reducing the data acquisition time. So that today, EBSD is a powerful tool for enriched microstructure characterization from the millimeter to the nanometer scale.
The session will focus on the recent advances in the EBSD and related techniques, such as transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD), electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI), 3D Orientation Imaging and could also question how machine learning could further assist future progress. The session will include state-of-the-art developments in new generation of detectors, in Kikuchi Pattern analysis for advanced material data extraction and in the latest data post-processing routes. Coupling EBSD with other techniques such as in-situ deformation and temperature tests, nanoindentation and Raman experiments will also be in the scope of the session.
Keywords: Electron Microscopy, Orientation, Diffraction, Materials, Imaging
Audience: Researchers in physics, materials science and geology, electron microscopy experts and data analysts
Using X-rays in Biological Research
Session Chair: Liz Duke (EMBL Hamburg, Germany)
In recent years the usage of X-ray techniques, and particularly X-ray imaging, in biology has seen a significant increase. This is in part due to advances laboratory X-ray source technology but also due to exploitation of synchrotron facilities by biologists. In this session we will highlight the power of X-rays with their ability to probe deep into soft matter such as tissues and cells; where the results obtained using X-rays are at the heart of the work being presented, either standing alone or shoulder to shoulder alongside other techniques in order to provide answers to the biological question posed.
Keywords: X-rays, Imaging, Tissue, Cells
Audience: Those actively involved in using X-rays in their biological research and those interested in finding out what is possible with X-rays.
Invited Speakers
Katie Dexter
Rachel Williams
Nanoscale X-ray Imaging: Computation Imaging Techniques and Applications
Session Chair: Silvia Cipiccia (University College London, UK)
Computation imaging techniques including ptychography, holography and coherent diffraction imaging, have revolutionised the way in which microscopy is performed at the nanoscale. By replacing the lens with a computational algorithm, these techniques have overcome the limitations of conventional microscopy due to lens aberrations. This session aims to bring together researchers working on technique and algorithm development, as well as applications in the X-ray regime, from life science, to energy material and magnetic domains studies.
Keywords: Ptychography, X-ray, Computational Imaging, Coherent Diffraction Imaging, Holography
Audience: Those actively involved in nanoscale x-ray imaging technique and applications as well as anyone curious about nanoscale imaging and interested in knowing more
Invited Speakers
Darren Batey
Late Breaking
Session Chairs: Gail McConnell (University of Strathclyde, UK) & Myfanwy Adams (John Innes Centre, UK)
Late breaking submissions are invited to report the very latest results in microscopy. This abstract deadline is not intended to be merely an extension of the general submission deadline: instead this session provides an opportunity for researchers to present the most exciting recent developments in the field.
